From the Club of Rome to Star Wars: The Era of Limits, Space Colonization and the Origins of SDI

Abstract

In 1972 the Club of Rome heralded the ‘era of limits,’ as demographic and environmental pressures forced humanity to scale back its ambitions. A decade later, in 1983, US President Reagan announced an ambitious plan to build a shield in outer space against ballistic missiles, which became popularly known as Star Wars. This chapter shows how these seemingly separate historical events were, in fact, connected. A group of technological optimists proposed outer space not only as a solution to overpopulation, energy depletion and environmental damage, but also to the possibility of nuclear Armageddon. The article examines how, in the 1970s, space-colony enthusiasts in the L5 Society mingled with nuclear-weapon designers and military planners, and counterculture left-liberals connected with libertarians and others on the political right.